This document summarizes a volunteering summit that took place on January 15th, 2021 in London. The summit aimed to (1) bring together diverse stakeholders involved in volunteering, (2) address how to better support volunteering and volunteers in the capital, and (3) ensure the city's volunteering infrastructure is ready to tackle 2021 challenges. Presenters discussed lessons learned from the first COVID wave and how collaboration can be improved. Research presented found that volunteering has been crucial during the pandemic for emergency response, ongoing support, and meeting a variety of needs. Looking forward, challenges include maintaining volunteer capacity and balancing competing demands like vaccination support.

1. Volunteering Summit
15th January 2021

2. VOLUNTEERING SUMMIT JANUARY 2021
THANK YOU
FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE
DONE AND CONTINUE TO DO

3. VOLUNTEERING SUMMIT JANUARY 2021
• Bring together many diverse stakeholders
• Allow us to address ways to support volunteering and volunteers in the capital
• Ensure that volunteering infrastructure across the city is ready to tackle the challenges we face in
2021
Why are we here?

4. VOLUNTEERING SUMMIT JANUARY 2021
What have you learnt from Wave 1 that you have been able to put into practice?
What do you think have been your borough/area/policy area strengths?
What are the opportunities to do things differently over the coming months?
How can collaboration across different structures be improved?
e that you have been able to put into practice? What do you think
The questions for today;

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Introduction – the context of this event
Volunteering in London has been crucial to enabling London’s response to Covid.
Volunteering is also of huge value to the economy
https://www.probonoeconomics.com/civil-action-exploring-civil-societys-potential-in-the-2020s
• Key activities include; urgent and emergency response - food support, medicine pick up and delivery, domestic
abuse support, bereavement support
• Ongoing support needs – befriending and social isolation, mental health networks, advice sector including housing
and employment, debt and finance, children’s and young people’s activities
• Variety of activation; from pre-existing organisations and networks to brand new mutual aid organisations and/or
national programmes (eg NHS Responders)
• Variety of borough co-ordination; from local authority led to voluntary and community sector led
• Variety of volunteer capacity that can be drawn on; and we are all worried about capacity, burnout and fatigue, how
to keep our volunteers safe
• Challenge of competing demands and priorities; the demand for vaccination volunteers is huge – how can we
ensure that we can meet existing needs whilst still supporting this important activity?

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A complex picture of
volunteer- involving
organisations
Volunteer Centre
Council for
voluntary service
Local Authority
Faith group
Food bank
Community Anchor
organisation
Community of interest
Mutual Aid group
School/College
National charity eg St
John’s/British Red Cross
NHS Activity eg
NHS
Responders

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https://localtrust.org.uk/insights/research/briefing-5-rapid-research-covid-19/
Volunteering has been crucial to local and national responses to COVID-19.
• Alongside the thousands who have been deployed through formal mobilisation schemes at national and local level, many
more have taken direct action within their own communities
• While many people have started volunteering during COVID-19, others have shifted their activities, and still more have had
to stop
• Patterns of volunteering are uneven. Broadly speaking, those with more resources are more likely to volunteer, raising
questions of equality and access.
• In ‘normal’ times, there is a tendency to focus on individual motivations for, and engagement in, volunteering. Crises such
as COVID-19 remind us of the significance of social relations and connections to volunteering.
• Looking forward, it will be important that we find ways to ensure that the renewed interest in these forms of collective
volunteering leads to it being nurtured rather than stifled.
What does volunteering in Covid look like? Emerging research from Local Trust (not
London specific but London relevant)

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https://localtrust.org.uk/insights/research/briefing-6-rapid-research-covid-19
People do not necessarily label themselves as volunteers; often they see themselves as ‘just getting on with what needs to
be done’ in their neighbourhood and community.
• A new cohort of people have come forward to help out in their community in response to COVID-19. Volunteers have been
involved in a range of these (mostly practical) responses, but there are also barriers to volunteering.
• Engaging people at the grassroots level has been more effective than national or regional command-and-control volunteer
initiatives.
• COVID-19 has not necessarily created new forms of volunteering. It has, however, accelerated trends evident over the last
decade, including online and ‘micro’ volunteering.
• There are some concerns about future expectations, and whether agencies understand the limits and boundaries of
volunteering roles.
What has worked and changed in volunteering during Covid? (Emerging
research from Local Trust - not London specific but London relevant)

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4 types of micro-level community engagement
• Everyday neighbourliness
• Practical volunteering
• Relationship based helping
• Heightened awareness of vulnerable others
More likely to continue
• New human connections/ networks
• Increased trust
• Created new “defaults” and habits
On a ratchet, harder to stop, more to lose
What has worked and changed in volunteering during Covid? (2)
Ethnographic research from Social Engine – included London areas in the study
Less likely
• Met an explicit practical need
• Heightened awareness of vulnerable others
• Light touch actions
Timebound, easier to stop, less to lose
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dJRFrRyZwzZNhHQzFqpTKN8fDcnbn3M5kKYe_vmPDi8/edit#slide=
id.p1

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https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-community-response-survey
Most recent findings from the London Community Response Survey – a survey of organisations working with the most
vulnerable Londoners. Surveys carried out since April 2020 to track need and pressures on voluntary and community sector
organisations.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOUR ORGANISATION IS FACING THIS WEEK? (The three biggest challenges in
the last two weeks)
The top challenges in week 30th November-9th December (week 35 of the survey) were:
Capacity to meet demand
Planning for delivery over the next 6 months
Funding sustainability beyond the crisis
Staff wellbeing and mental health.
Reduction in volunteering numbers capacity was mentioned
What do we know about need? (1) The London Community Response Survey

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https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/socio-economic-impact-of-covid-19
The socio-economic impact on Londoners of Covid has (unsurprisingly) been huge. The current lockdown will only
exacerbate the levels of need that the research above (published in December) already showed;
•The number of Londoners claiming Universal Credit has more than doubled since March and is still rising
The increase in Universal Credit is greater in London than in other parts of Britain.
• In September 2020, around a quarter (25 per cent) of Londoners aged 16+ reported characteristics of poor mental health, which has
decreased slightly from 31 per cent in April. The pre-pandemic estimate from this survey in 2018-20 was 20 per cent, so the prevalence has
increased. (The prevalence is higher amongst younger Londoners).
• When thinking about the last week around three in ten Londoners were unable to eat healthy and nutritious food in September 2020. This
was higher for older Londoners
• London has a total of 4.33 million furloughed employments potentially eligible with a take up rate of 10% - the highest amongst the
regions. The UK take up rate was 8%. 73% of the top 5% of constituencies nationally in terms of take up rate are in London
What do we know about need (2) : The socio-economic impact of Covid on Londoners

15. VOLUNTEERING SUMMIT JANUARY 2021
https://trustforlondon.
fra1.digitaloceanspac
es.com/media/docu
ments/Londons_Pov
erty_Profile_2020.pd
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What do we know about
need (3)
London’s poverty